The Arkansaw traveler., 1887-09-03
SOME GREAT SMOKERS
London Standard.

smell of tobacco, there can be no doubt that as habit there are few which can be compared to it for popularity ill our own and other countries. h. deed, it has been truly remarked that it embraces the circumference of the globe, it comprehends every climate, from Siberia to the equator, and from the equator to the extreme south.
 Thus, referring back to bygone years, Spenser calls it "divine tobac- CO.," but whether he indulged ip the use of it is by no means certain, al- though it seems probable that he spoke ill this complimentary manner out of respect and regard for his friend, Sir Walter Raleigh, who has been regarded as having introduced the fashion into England. Hence Malcolm has pre- served tradition that he used to sit at his door with Sir Hugh Middleton, practice probably promoted, he adds, "through the public manner in which it was exhibited and the aromatic fla- vor inhaled by the passengers"
 At the commencement of the seven- teenth century smoking was in high popularity and received larger share of literary notice than ever after fell to its share. Like Milton, George Withers is commonly said to have in- dulged largely in the solace of his pipe, and many of his evenings in Newgate, during his long imprison- ment, when he was weary of number ing his steps or counting the panes of glass, were relieved with meditations over pipe, which also afforded him an opportuny of moralizing, as thus {:
 And when the smoke ascends on high,
 Think on the worldly vanity
 Of worldly stuff; tis gone with a puf,
 Thus think and drink tobacco.
 Charles Lamb, according to his own confessions, was "a fierce smoker of tobacco" but as he advanced in years he was compelled to relax his intimacy with the favorite weed, and describes himself as resembling Ca volcano burnt out, emitting now and then only casual puff" Eventually he took his formal leave in "Fare- we'll Ode to Tobacco" and, in sending copy of the poem to Wordsworth, he writes:
 "I have had it in my head to do it these two years; but tobacco stood in it's own light when it gave me head aches that prevented me singing its praises"
 In the course of the poem, which is one of the highest tributes ever paid to tobacco, he says:
 For must-nor let it grieve thee,
 Friendliest of plants, that must leave thee. For thy sake, tobacco,
 Would do any thing but die;
 And but seek to extend my days
 Long enough to sing thy praise.
 Addison had pipe in his mouth at all hours, and Hobbes, after his early dinner, smoked pipes innumerable, and yet he attained the age of 95.
 The first Episcopal smoker in Eng land was Dr. Richard Fletcher, suc- cussively bishop of Worcester, Bristol and London, and was the priest spec ially chosen to attend on Mary Queen of Scots at Fotheringay on the day of her execution, February 8, 1887. Ac- cording to one account, his death has been attributed to "his immoderate taking of tobacco"
 Archbishop Whaterley was another great smoker, and his pipe, when his little volcano was extinct, served him as book marker. In summer time he might be seen sitting on chair in St. Stephens Green while he was smoking tobacco.
 Archbishop Laud was accused by the Puritans of being too fond of smoking, and Robert Hall, while at Cambrige, acquired the habit of smok- ing from being in Paris company. Being asked on one occasion why he had commenced, he replied: "I am qualifying myself for the society of a doctor of divinity, and this (holding up his pipe) is the test of my admis- sion."
 Dr. Parr, it should be ncted, was an inveterate smoker, and when some one said to him, Do you smoke, Dr. Parr?" he answered, "All great men do, sir" Sometimes he would smoke as many as 20 pipes in an evening, and Dr. Richardson, in his "Recollections of the Last Century," relates how, at the dinner given at Trinity College, Cambridge, to the duke of Gloucester as chancellor of the university, Dr. Parr, upon the removal of the cloth, indulged in his eternal pipe, "blowing 8 cload into the faces of his neigh bors, much to their annoyance, and causing royalty to sneeze." The noted founder of the "Atomic Theory" Dr. Dalton, greatly enjoyed his pipe after his days occupation in the class room or the laboratory, Cor when taking his well-earned weekly half-holiday with the bowling club at the country tavern, where every Wednesday he :. regularly attended, ," his colloquial faculty being at its very best when oyer 8 nine of tobacco.